Kettle Sour pH Change Post Boil

[James Smith]

Not sure if this is a fluke or to be expected. I've done a few Berliner Weisses over the years and just transferred my latest iteration to the fermenter where it will get a dose of raspberry puree for a secondary fermentation. I use straight Lacto Plantarum from capsules for kettle souring, and inoculate with 20 billion CFU. I used to use Good Belly, but find these capsules are much more effective, working in much less time. From Saturday afternoon to this morning, pH went from around 5.4 to 3.17 when I began the boil. That might sound a bit low for some, but that's another discussion. I decided to measure the pH post boil and noticed it had dropped another .04 to 3.13. Not a crazy amount, but I wasn't expecting this. Perhaps I should have. Guess it could be attributed to boil off concentrating acidity? Else, is it just a fluke?

[Jimmy Orkin]

I do think the Ph goes lower after any wort boil, kettle sour or normal beer. I don't know what is happening that lowers the Ph.

[Terry Olinger]

That would be something to test on Sunday on the big rig with the belgian wit. Check boil kettle ph pre and post boil and see if there is a similar drop.

[James Smith]

Would be interesting to see the results of pre and post boil pH on the Big Rig Witbier. I'm going to start looking at pH post boil as well as fermentation. I had a conversation with one of the guys at Manhattan Project about their hazy IPA Half-Life...one of Jimmy's favorite styles Anyway, as I recall, he said they ensure the final product is in the mid-high 4's, like 4.6-4.7. There's some information out there about post-boil and post-fermentation pH. I wonder how much difference it really makes. There is caution about low pH and hop utilization though, so use discretion pre-boil and early on.

[James Smith]

Update: Fermentation complete and pH has dropped another few points to from 3.13 to 2.95. Tart, but very refreshing. Raspberry puree will be added in the next couple of days, so I'm not worried about it being too low. I quite like a bit more tartness anyway. Will add pH testing into my brewing routine to monitor pre/post boil and post fermentation.

[Terry Olinger]

With all the brewday activity on the big rig, I completely forgot about checking pre and post boil ph. Would be interested in the results if you test this on your next batch.